František Drtikol: Photographs 1901–1914)
The exhibition catalogue reveals an unknown side of one of the best known Czech photographers. Portraits, ladscapes and scenes from the old town of Prague represent the artist´s early period, marked by the close connections between photography and symbolism. By highlighting the period between 1901 and 1914, when photography went hand in hand with painting, it wishes to display the work of a photographer who can be regarded as a pronounced pictorialist.
The publication was issued by the Kant publishing house in cooperation with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and Neumann Foundation, Gingins (Switzerland), to accompany the exhibition held at the Neumann Foundation in 1999 and in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, March – June, 2000.Signum Design: Czech Design 1980–1999)
The book maps out the creative output of forty-two personalities in the field of Czech design during the final decade of the existence of Socialist Czechoslovakia and the following 1990s, when the market conditions underwent a radical change. In the 1980s, when the incompetent and cumbersome industrial sphere (with a few fine exceptions) buried all talent and good ideas, designers and architects reacted to this situation by manifesting a modern, contemporary style (the Edis and Atika artists’ groups). The transition to a market economy, globalization and the world’s markets brought new opportunities in the 1990s – a period that saw the emergence of new companies interested in collaborating with top-quality designers.
It was issued to accompany the exhibition in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, June – October, 1999.Padova: The City and Its Museums)
Through a body of works from Padua’s municipal museums, this book acquaints readers with the history of the famous city in northern Italy and gives an account of the wealth and diversity of its art treasures. The volume features objects from the collections of the Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico), showcasing artefacts from Antiquity to the Roman period. Also presented are works from the holdings of the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art (Museo d'Arte Medievale e Moderna), an institution that ranks with the richest art depositories in north-eastern Italy owing to its works of the Venetian School of painting from the 14th-18th centuries. Last but not least, the book shows artefacts from the Bottacin Museum (Museo Bottacin) that houses coins and medals dating from ancient times to the present, as well as a collection of 19th-century statuary.
The publication was issued to accompany the exhibition prepared by Villaggio Globale Int., Mogliano Veneto and Musei Civici di Padova held in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, November 1999 – February 2000.Czech Fashion 1780–1870: For Salons and Promenade)
Volume One of the Czech Fashion edition
In the late 18th century under the influence of the Enlightenment, women divested themselves of corsets and crinolines and, shielded by the enthusiastic reception of Classical culture, opted for comfortable, almost reformist clothing. The Biedermeier of the middle classes brought women in Central Europe from their venture into the Classical world back to the family hearths and traditional forms of dress that enhanced the concepts of female charm and maternal feelings. The natural evolution of fashion from the Biedermeier to the Rococo Revival style was interrupted by the revolutionary events of 1848, in which Czech women demonstrated considerable patriotism in wearing distinctive national costumes. However, with the onset of the second half of the 19th century, they were rapidly ushered into a new era that re-introduced the tight bodice, a wealth of frilly lace and luxurious fabrics nostalgically reminiscent of the playful Rococo style.
The text is accompanied by photographs of garments and clothing accessories from UPM’s collections, drawings of women’s attire from a unique sketchbook, illustrations from Prague fashion magazines (including one of the first European fashion journals published in Prague in 1787–1788), as well as daguerreotypes, photographs and pattern supplements. Articles by prominent specialists and the rich documentary material represent yet another piece in the mosaic of Czech fashion production as shown in the international context.
The publication was issued by the OLYMPIA publishing house in cooperation with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.